As I write this, two key questions remain unanswered, and a third mostly unasked, about a deadly daybreak attack on Khan Sheikhoun, a northwest Syrian city of (pre-war) 50,000. Hundreds were wounded and as many as 100 killed, apparently chemical weaponry...
“Let me begin by saying that although this has been billed as an anti- war rally, I stand before you as someone who is not opposed to war in all circumstances,” Illinois State Senator Barack Obama said in 2002. Later in the same speech: “What I am...
In 2011, American citizens Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan were murdered – killed without charge or trial – on the orders of then-president Barack Obama. Two weeks later, al-Awlaki’s teenage son, Abdulrahman, also an American citizen, was murdered...
Someone should take US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper aside for a talk. He desperately needs to be told that when you’re deep in a hole, the first step toward getting out is to stop digging. Clapper’s been in such a hole since 2013, when...
On the Friday before Christmas – the kind of time politicians pick to do things they hope you won’t notice – US president Barack Obama signed the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act. Along with the usual terrible, horrible, very bad, no good NDAA...
As on most issues, president-elect Donald Trump has been all over the map on military issues throughout his campaign and post-campaign pronouncements. One day he muses about disbanding NATO, the next day he promises to “rebuild” the US military, which is...
“Freedom of expression is a bedrock of American democracy,” the Washington Post‘s editorial board writes in a November 18 jeremiad, “but its irresponsible exercise can distort and destabilize our politics.” The Post‘s editors,...
On July 28, London’s Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, aka “the Old Bailey,” announced the conviction of Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary on charges of “inviting support for a proscribed organization” (the Islamic State)....
When the US government sends $400 million in cash, stacked on pallets, to Iran on the same day the Iranian government releases four imprisoned Americans, it looks an awful lot like ransom. On the other hand, when the US government decides to keep $400 million sent to...
On June 12, Omar Mateen killed 49 patrons at Orlando, Florida’s Pulse nightclub. His weapon: A Sig Sauer MCX carbine. On July 3, Abu Maha al-Iraqi killed more than 300 shoppers and diners in Baghdad’s Karrada neighborhood. His weapon: A van packed with...
